A Group of Powerful Annapolitans Launch Action Annapolis

Sonia Feldman, who has rarely delved into local politics, started Action Annapolis with a group of Annapolis residents. Photo: APat Staff

Last week saw a group of Annapolitan heavy hitters that lean progressive launch the first public meeting for a new activist group called Action Annapolis. Many who attended the first meeting have long pedigrees of involvement in arts, culture, business, and education, but most had never gotten political on a local scale.

A group of about 60 Annapolitians joined the first meeting of Action Annapolis at the First Presbyterian Church of Annapolis. Photo: APat Staff

The group, co-led by Sonia Feldman, has about 200 members on facebook and volumes of diverse interests that they say, aren’t being addressed the way they want them to be by politicians from both major parties. Their concerns run the gamut: education, racial justice, immigration, and the environment just to name a few.

The group is already highly organized with a website in development, a cool video and tightly run meeting packed with polished presentations. Those who turned out were mainly professional women and a few men. One man mentioned the lack of racial diversity, something Feldman said they are working to overcome.

Kathy Miller, (left) and Kathryn Dahl (right) are leading a sub-group who will research and publish on Annapolis candidates for the upcoming city election. Photo: APat Staff

The group is non-partisan and mostly issue-oriented. They plan to break into working groups, and they already have leaders assigned to each topic. The first order of business, though, is getting heavily involved in the upcoming Annapolis City elections by investigating every mayoral and council candidate and incumbent and publishing what they find in a user-friendly platform.